Sweden Proposes New Initiative to Help Promote Gender Equality in Video Games

November 14, 2014
Written by Mark Labbe

Dataspelsbranschen, a game industry trade organization in Sweden, has just been given 272,000 kronor ($36,672) by the European country to look into ways of positively labeling games that promote gender equality.

Given the recent discussions on the lack of gender diversity in video games, including the controversy revolving around the lack of female characters in the Assassin’s Creed games, labeling a game that promotes gender equality could be a great cultural and financial move on the part of Swedish game companies.

In an interview with The Local, Dataspelsbranschen manager Anton Albiin explained that the new initiative will either be mandated be the Swedish government and will impact all games released in Sweden, or will give companies that do add on labels a special certificate noting that they respect gender equality. He went on to say that games, although they are not real, can deeply impact societal views.

Of course games can be about fantasy, but they can be so much more than this. They can also be a form of cultural expression – reflecting society or the society we are hoping for. Games can help us to create more diverse workplaces and can even change the way we think about things.

What do you think about the proposed initiative? Do you think this should carry over to the United States?